International
Ansari was only deported
By Kesava Menon
KUWAIT, FEB. 10. The United Arab Emirates authorities are understood to have made the subtle distinction that Aftab Ahmed Ansari alias Farhan Malik, prime suspect in the attack outside the American Center in Kolkata was deported and not extradited.
In this case the UAE authorities are understood to have acted because Ansari was in the country on a false passport and there was clear evidence that he was an escaped criminal.
These considerations need not apply in the case of others whom Indian authorities believe are members of criminal or terrorist networks and are said to have taken shelter in the UAE. In drawing the subtle distinction between ``deported'' and ``extradited'', off the record though, the UAE authorities appear to have signaled that they were not acting solely in terms of the extradition treaty they had signed with India.
In any case, even where such a treaty exists, the Government of the country where the suspect resides has the sole right to decide whether to proceed with the extradition or not. But the question that remains is whether the Ansari case was a one-off or whether similar action can be expected in respect of other persons Indian authorities might be interested in.
Ansari's arrest and deportation has, of course, occurred against the backdrop of the global campaign against terrorism. While the U.S. has focussed on the Al-Qaeda and its associations in all official pronouncements on the subject, there was lack of clarity as to what exactly the U.S. agencies and those of other countries were doing with respect to the trans- national criminal gangs that have a close association with global terror networks.
Ansari might not be a key figure in international criminal networks and his arrest alone need not establish that the global drive against terrorism is now covering the criminal nexus as well.
Several books and analysis on the subject of global terrorism have paid a good deal of attention to the important role that financiers in the UAE and other Gulf countries play in funding global terror networks.
The U.S. administration is known to have started applying pressure on other Governments to crack down on money- laundering and other means of funding the global terror networks. The U.S. pressure on West Asian Governments, to clean up their act, has perhaps begun to take effect.
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